Unfortunately, the standard USA diet and lifestyle is probably the most weakening to the digestive fire in human history. Lots of gigantic iced beverages, lots of cold foods, a lack of spices, lots of sweet bland and heavy foods, lack of variety, an overabundance of damp producing wheat and meat in the diet, a lack of vegetables, especially green ones; eating old wrecked foods, such as week old prepared foods and frozen foods; eating without regards to the seasons for example drinking Coconut Water in winter or cold rainy weather; rushed eating; multi-tasking while eating, such as the business lunch, or eating at the computer or t.v.; not going to the bathroom when there is urge; over exercise like running marathons, and under exercise, by a lifestyle characterized by excessive speed and stimulation with lack of deep relaxation, or the lifestyle characterized by sloth, couch potato-ness and sitting for hours before the t.v. With lack of mental stimulation.

Digestive fire/Agni metabolic fire is healthy when there is

normal hunger

no discomfort after eating

no belching with the meal

a light feeling after eating

a feeling of satisfaction and well being after meals

regular excretion of wastes

normal consistency of wastes (bowel movement well formed like a ripe banana)

wastes have a mild odor

an absence of respiratory and other infectious illness

good immune system

healthy joints

Ama Metabolic and Digestive Toxins are Elevated When You Feel or There Are:

Thick or Greasy Tongue Coating

Constipation

Sinus Congestion

Heavy Feeling in the Gut

Foggy on rising in the morning

Weak for no reason

Lethargic and Unmotivated

Chronic cough

Exhaustion, Physical or Mental

Depression

Loss of Appetite or No Zest for Food/ or Food seems tasteless

Catch Colds too frequently

Digestive fire is weakened by overuse of cold and liquid substances. This is really critical. I have seen many many patients who have damaged their Agni by force feeding water because of the misinformation about drinking 8 glasses of water a day. There is absolutely no science and no tradition behind this idea.

Why People Believe its “Healthy” to Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day

In the 1920’s an American scientist did research on how much fluid an average adult male American consumes in a day; that includes the water in your steak, in your green beans, in your espresso, even in your dried apricot. He concluded the average was 8 oz. Somehow, chiropractors and naturopaths grabbed onto this tidbit and began prescribing 64oz. of water a day. Try drinking that much. It is not easy. It completely cools and dilutes your digestive fire. Water is inherently cool, that is why in the desert when you come upon moist soil it is cooler than dry soil. Sometimes in their zeal to combat the ravages of the industrial revolution on workers in England, naturopathic minded physicians went to the opposite radical extreme. We see that in the heavy use of purgative laxatives, as well.

Ayurveda believes in paying attention to your thirst, and drinking when thirsty. The problem is that many people get busy and ignore their thirst. The remedy is to pay attention, not to force feed cold fluid.

So Agni/digestive fire is weakened by over consumption of liquids and cold foods, and that includes over consumption of raw food, especially for Vatta dominants; especially by iced beverages, particularly in cold weather and in winter; by overeating ; by over consumption of heavy foods such as wheat and meat, especially if cooked without spices or eaten without condiments of pickles, which stimulate agni; by eating before the previous meal is digested; by improper food combining; by a lack of fermented foods; by bread made with baker’s yeast, not natural sour; by consumption of food at the wrong time–meaning not matched to the season, climate, your age, or your health condition; by sexual over activity and by overwork; by lack of exercise (a quick way to stimulate agni is to go for a 45 minute walk); and by mental causes–excessive amounts of loneliness, fear, anger, sadness, worry, greed, envy, etc.

How does weak Agni lead to disease?

When Agni is weak Ama forms. Ama literally means “raw, unripened, uncooked” Sadly, it refers to food that is absorbed into the body without having been completely digested first. (This is akin to what Chinese medicine describes as a failure of the Spleen’s transformation and transportation mechanism, which leads to accumulation of dampness and stagnant Qi in the Triple Burner.)

This undigested material cannot be processed. It is like sending incorrect input into your computer. It crashes. In our bodies this undigested material, Ama, is toxic; it served to clog our channels of communication, and to disrupt normal physiological functions. Instead of our body getting the pure essence of foods “rasa” (the arisal of the clear in Chinese medicine) as its essential nutritive substance, instead it gets a foul, sticky substance that clogs the channels/srotas, and impairs the tissues/dhatus. Ama is the substance then, that nourishes disease. And mental Ama arises when the mind is unable to digest experience, leaving it stuck and sticky.

Even in the case of infectious diseases, the exposure to disease-causing micro-organisms only causes disease in those folk whose interior milieus are vulnerable and weakened.

The following is a quick summary of ways to engender Agni and prevent Ama:

Agni is engendered and Ama prevented by

eating while relaxed in an appetizing setting

chewing well enough

starting with a little soup, ending with a little tea

avoiding iced or chilled foods and beverages

avoiding excessive raw food depending on your dosha

eating according to your dosha and age

eating with the seasons

stopping when you are less than full

not overdrinking with the meal

including all 6 tastes in a meal

eating food that is freshly prepared, or less than 24 hours old if cooked

sipping some tea after a meal

going for a brief stroll after a meal

using spices and herbs in cooking

using digestive herbs and spices as medicine

starting the day with some ginger root or fennel tea

appropriate physical activity (but away from meal time)

Agni is weakened and Ama formed by

eating foods inappropriate to your Dosha

or the season or your current health state

eating the same foods all the time

drinking too much fluid with meals

overeating

resisting the urge to eat

eating old or frozen food

too much rich foods

consuming poisonous food: pesticides, drugs, etc.

eating too much of any one taste

staying up late, eating late at night

insufficient exercise

unprocessed feelings, conflicts, etc.

Ama is removed from the Body-Mind by

Pranayam (Deep Breathing)

Meditative Practice and “Personal Growth” type work

Moderate Sweating through exercise appropriate to your Dosha (e.g. Pitta type should not run under hot sun, Vata should not overdo aerobics, Kapha should push themselves)

When there is a diet and lifestyle appropriate to ones Dosha, and when the guidelines of Ayurveda are followed well, with lots of good Agni, and little impure Ama, then the end product of digestion is the production of Ojas, similar to Jing in Chinese Medicine, a kind of deep stored physical life force, akin to a savings account full of wealth.

copyright eyton shalom, 2014 san diego, ca, all rights reserved use with permission